Category Argentina

Post navigation

Pope Francis I has been portrayed in chorus by the Western media as a champion of “Liberation Theology” committed to global poverty alleviation.

Pope Francis has urged world leaders to challenge “all forms of injustice” and resist the “economy of exclusion… the throwaway culture, … and the “culture of death,” [which] … sadly risk becoming passively accepted.”

Who is the Real Pope Francis I ?

Jorge Mario Bergoglio (Pope Francis I) was one of the main supporters –within the Catholic hierarchy– of Argentina’s military dictatorship which came to power in a CIA supported coup in 1976.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio not only supported the dictatorship, he also played a direct and complicit role in the “Dirty War” (la guerra sucia”) in liaison with the military Junta headed by General Jorge Videla, leading to the arrest, imprisonment, torture and disappearance of progressive Catholic priests and laymen who were opposed to Argentina’s military rule.

INTERPOL: Judge Orders Extradition And Arrest Of Former U.S. Treasury Undersecretary David Mulford

Argentina hasn’t forgotten Mulford’s role in the 2001 crisis.

Debt-swap fraud is not forgiven in 3, 2, 1…

BUENOS AIRES, Sept 4 (Reuters) – A judge in Argentina has ordered the arrest of Credit Suisse executive and former U.S. Treasury Undersecretary David Mulford because he failed to testify over a 2001 Argentine debt swap, the state news agency reported on Monday.

Federal Judge Marcelo Martinez de Giorgi will ask Interpol to issue an international arrest warrant seeking Mulford’s extradition for questioning over the bond exchange carried out by the government in an unsuccessful bid to avoid default.

Mulford, who currently serves as vice chairman international of Credit Suisse Investment Bank, was seen as one of the debt swap’s architects when he served as a senior official at Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB).

Argentina’s government swapped about $30 billion in debt for new, longer-maturity issues in June 2001. But it stopped paying most of its debts six months later as the economy collapsed.

A local court has been investigating the swap for more than 10 years to see if Argentine officials committed any crime when they hired banks to carry out the swap. Former Economy Minister Domingo Cavallo and former Finance Secretary Daniel Marx have been charged in the case, which has yet to go to trial.

Mulford was first called to testify in the probe in 2002 but he has never done so, according to court documents cited by the Telam news agency.

Argentine officials have “made numerous attempts by all possible legal means to achieve David Mulford’s compliance, in this country’s territory as well as through U.S. authorities, and all of these have invariably failed,” the documents stated.

Politics has crawled into the London Olympic Games. Some countries are taking the occasion to question British foreign policy; others reject possible hidden agendas. The result: the Olympic Spirit may not shine so bright this summer in London.

Last week, for instance, yet another diplomatic row broke out between Argentina and the United Kingdom over a TV advertisement commissioned by Argentina’s Government, showing Argentine Olympic Hockey Team captain Fernando Zylberberg working-out and running through the streets and fields of Port Stanley/Puerto Argentino in the Falkland/Malvinas Islands.

The ad’s slogan is strong: “To compete on English soil; we are first training on Argentine soil,” the insinuation being that the Malvinas Islands are Argentinean territory.

The ad ends with a message from the Argentine President’s Office paying tribute to “our heroic dead and veterans of the Malvinas War” between Argentina and the UK.

Immediately, the advertising agency which prepared the spot – New York-based Young & Rubicam – issued a statement saying, “It has come to our attention that our agency in Argentina created an ad for the Argentine government that has deeply offended many people in the UK and around the world. We strongly condemn this work and have asked the Argentine government to pull the spot.”

Hopefully, Argentina’s government will not pull the spot, particularly after recent heated diplomatic exchanges over the Falkland/Malvinas which pitted both countries in a brief 74-day war in 1982.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague accused Argentina of using the upcoming Olympic Games for political aim, pointing to President Cristina Kirchner’s diplomatic failure in claiming sovereignty over the islands. In turn, Sebastian Coe, president of the 2012 Olympic Games Committee, criticized the ad saying the Games “are not a political affair” but rather a gathering “to celebrate sports.”

They’re probably both right: the Argentine government’s unrealistic and lukewarm strategies over the Falklands are poor at best.

As the undersigned wrote to the London Telegraph on May, to balance things out maybe Young & Rubicam should issue a further statement saying something like, “It has come to our attention that the UK continues to illegally occupy the Falkland/Malvinas Islands, something that has deeply offended many people in Argentina and around the world. We strongly condemn this occupation which should cease, and will ask the British government to pull out of the Falklands/Malvinas.”

The ad was secretly filmed on the Falkland/Malvinas on March 18, when Zylberberg posed as just another runner in a marathon held that day on the Islands.

But this is not the only case where the Olympic Games, due to start July 27, have attracted political turmoil.

On May 1, Iran’s global news service PressTV complained that “the London Olympic Games have turned into a political game even before the start of the events, with…(its) official website removing the countries’ capitals from their profiles on the orders of Israel… The official website had described Israel as a country without a capital…(because) the space for Israel’s capital… had been… left empty as Jerusalem (Al-Quds) was listed as Palestine’s capital.”

Argentina’s Congress has overwhelmingly approved a takeover of the country’s largest energy company, YPF, from its Spanish controlling shareholder.

The Argentine lawmakers gave their final approval to the nationalization bill on Thursday, giving President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner the green light to expropriate a 51 per cent stake from Spain’s Repsol, Reuters reported.

The Chamber of Deputies voted 207-32 in favor of the bill, which enjoys nationwide popularity. The nationalizing bill, which was also cleared in the Argentina’s senate last week, heads to the President’s office to be signed into law.

The vote reflects a political victory for Kirchner, who could reach the two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress in order to pass the bill. Meanwhile, people in Buenos Aires staged a massive protest on weekend to support the President’s move. Continue reading →

Share this:

Like this:

The US has joined Spain and Britain in condemning Argentina’s expropriation of the Spanish-owned oil and gas company, YPF, Press TV reports.

The US State Department spokesman Mark Toner condemned Argentina’s nationalization of the oil company, saying his country views the act with negativity.

Toner also warned that the move would ultimately hurt Argentina’s economy.

However, the Argentine government has responded firmly to the criticism, arguing that the decision was taken based on the country’s national interests.

“The project aims at certain states’ rules to lead a strategic company. We do not govern on behalf of the US and the Spanish people,” Argentine Interior Minister Florencio Randazzo said.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez has slammed the company for failing to re-invest in local oil and gas production, which forced Buenos Aires to pay more than USD 9 billion to import fuel last year.

On Monday, Fernandez announced the decision to reclaim YPF, which was formerly a state-owned Argentine oil company, at a meeting with her cabinet and provincial governors. She said that Argentina had to take back the oil company since it is the only nation in Latin America “that does not manage its natural resources.”

The move to declare YPF Gas a public utility by taking 51 percent of its shares is an extension of the takeover of YPF Oil Company, the major subsidiary of Repsol.

Repsol President Antonio Brufau said on Tuesday that the company would take legal action against Argentina, seeking compensation of about $10 billion.

Meanwhile, the Spanish government has also criticized the move by claiming that Argentina is taking a risk of becoming “an international pariah” if it takes control of the YPF, in which Repsol has a 57.4 percent stake.

Spain is Argentina’s largest foreign investor. Last year YPF, the main oil company in Argentina, announced a major find of 1 billion barrels of shale oil.

Share this:

Like this:

A woman holds an Argentine national flag in front of the presidential palace after Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner announced that oil company YPF, controlled by Spain's Repsol, is subject to expropriation and that a bill being introduced would give the state a 51 percent share, in Buenos Aires on April 16, 2012. (AFP Photo / Daniel Garcia)

Is it theft on a grand scale or simply the legitimate re-nationalization of a country’s resources for the benefit of the people?

Argentina’s decision to take control of the country’s largest oil company YPF has created a schism in the international community—with winners and losers falling into place along the divide.

YPF, Argentina’s largest oil company, was privatized in 1993 and purchased at the time by Spain’s Repsol which up until this latest move owned 57% of the company. Claiming Repsol had not lived up to an agreement to invest in the infrastructure of the country, Argentina’s President Christina Fernandez announced her intentions of reclaiming the energy company.

The new ownership structure would give the federal government 51% control of YPF, with the remaining 49% of the company divided amongst the energy producing governments of the country. Repsol’s controlling interest in the company under this formula would be reduced to a paltry 6%.

Repsol is angered by the move calling it an “illegitimate and unjustifiable act.” In recent weeks talks about the possibility of nationalization have been driving stocks for YPF down, but still a conservative estimate of the value of the company is more than $13 billion. As compensation for the nationalization of their privately held subsidiary, Repsol has asked for a sum of around $10.5 billion, but it is unlikely that the company will receive that amount if anything at all.

Repsol may even be fined by the Argentinean government for environmental damage to the country’s interior—meaning Respol might have to pay Argentina for the government takeover. The company has also maintained that the move by President Fernandez is primarily a political one, to try and gain public support amidst a continuing energy crisis in Argentina.

Also, under the guidance of Repsol, YPF recently discovered vast amounts of shale rock oil reserves in the Vaca Muerta basin. This important find puts Argentina on the map as the holder of the world’s third largest shale gas reserves behind China and the United States. Repsol believes the current nationalization movement is nothing more than an obvious grasp for control of this major discovery. Having been set up through privatization in the 1990’s, then allowed to develop the company for 20 years; the first “loser” in this complicated and controversial process would have to be Repsol. Continue reading →